Thursday, August 13, 2015

A Raiders Bolero

If you've never listened to the classical piece "Bolero" by Ravel, then you've missed one of the most intelligently unfolding pieces of musical sound that an orchestra has ever produced. It was originally composed for ballet.It starts with a snare drum battlefield beat accompanied by the sound of a single flute playing one movement ("rhythm"). It ends with the composition of what seems like a billion instruments that have joined in to bring the one repeated movement to a thundering, ear-shattering climax.Such is the gift of musical genius; putting a single idea into action and having it sprout wings and ascend to the rafters of greatness. This is where the Oakland Raiders find themselves at the start of this season. The team is preaching Unity; one heartbeat, one vision. Just Win Baby! is the battle cry that fuels this teams' momentum.New head coach Jack Del Rio is the conductor. He is the one man leading this orchestra of finely-tuned athletes from that single idea off the field, to a climaxing crescendo of United success on the field. Jack will have his ear tuned to every sound and pitch, looking and listening for anything that's off rhythm and causing disharmony. If midway through the season Jack is smiling and enjoying conducting the team, chances are they're hitting their goals and winning games. If they're winning games expect the orchestra to pump up the volume down the stretch, continuing in harmony with soldiers marching to the same triumphant drumbeat. Nobody expects the Raiders to go marching into the Super Bowl, but we as Raidernation fans expect to see the potential of a championship march arise this season. So keep your eyes on the head coach folks, and let's see if we've finally got a conductor who can put his finger on the pulse of an orchestra and provide the magical touch that produces miraculous results on the field.Just Win Baby!